Fearlessly blogging the intersections of technology, education, and life.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Teaching the academy

I'm planning to teach again in the fall. The program I teach for is our writing program. Faculty from various disciplines teach in this program (though it is usually heavy on English and Humanities profs). They are encouraged to come up with topics in their discipline that would appeal to a broad audience. Last year, of course, Mr. Geeky and I co-taught a course on blogging. This year, I'm going it alone. My plan is to use writing about college and specifically, professors. Right now, I'm thinking of such books as The Straight Man and White Noise. I might have them watch Paper Chase and/or episodes of that tv show about a women's college with Richard Dreyfus whose name escapes me now. I also want to include articles and books about university education that are more analytical. And I might have students explore academic blogs.

I thought it would be fun, since the course also serves as an introduction to college life (at least the academic side of it), to analyze and explore that life, both as represented in fiction and movies and as subject of study. Any thoughts from the academic blogosphere? What books or articles would you teach?